Mascara packaging commonly comprises a container in the form of a cylindrical bottle having a neck with threaded finish. The neck has an orifice through which the bottle is filled and through which a brush-rod assembly is inserted. The brush rod-assembly depends from a threaded closure that fits onto the threaded neck finish. Furthermore, typical mascara packaging comprises a wiper situated in the orifice of the neck. The purpose of the wiper, as is well known in the art, is to clean the rod as it is withdrawn from the filled bottle by a consumer, remove excess mascara from the brush and smooth out the mascara on the brush prior to application to the eyelashes.
A typical prior art wiper is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Broadly defined, the wiper (100) is a hollow cylinder. The typical wiper has one retention bead (101). When the wiper is fully seated on a mascara bottle, the bead fits into a complimentary retention groove located on the inner wall of the bottle neck. The bead and neck groove stabilize the wiper in the bottle neck by opposing any movement of the wiper, as for example, when the brush passes through the wiper. A lower section (102) of the wiper is tapered such that it has a smaller diameter than that of the upper section (103) of the wiper. The upper section terminates in an upper orifice (104) and the lower section terminates in a lower orifice (105). As commonly practiced, the lower orifice diameter is typically between 0.139 and 0.163 inches, although other sizes may be in use and the present invention is not limited by the size of the lower orifice. This range of orifice diameters accommodates most of the brush-rod applicator assemblies currently in use.
A packaging supplier may provide mascara bottles to a filler with the wiper already fully seated in the neck and the retention bead located in the neck groove. This saves the filler the time, cost and effort of having to assemble those components before filling. Most fillers opt to have the supplier insert the wipers because inserting thousands of wipers requires costly wiper-insertion equipment, requires maintenance of that equipment and because the cost of any damaged components that result from machine or operator malfunction must be borne by the filler. Alternatively, the wiper and bottle may be assembled at the filling site, which saves for the filler, the cost that the supplier would charge for this service, but again this is not usually done.
Each bottle is filled by inserting a fill tube into the wiper down to the level of the lower orifice of the wiper. Some clearance is maintained between the lower orifice and the filling tube, like 0.005 inches. Once the bottle with wiper is filled, a closure is placed over the wiper and attached to the bottle, usually via thread engagement. The closure is placed on the bottle immediately after filling, to protect the product in the container from contamination and degradation. In this configuration, the wiper is hidden from view and generally, will not be seen by a customer or consumer until after the product has been purchased. Because the wiper is concealed prior to purchase there is little or no motivation to make the wiper visually interesting nor to use the wiper to convey information to the customer. Typical wipers, beyond their primary function, are visually uninteresting and generally monotone, i.e. white, gray or black and are free of any markings or attachments.
The cosmetic market and consumer goods markets in general, are highly competitive. Success or failure in the marketplace often depends on the ability of a package to catch the interest of the customer through visual stimuli and to convey relevant information to the customer. However, the decision of which advertising or marketing approach to use depends on the cost of implementing that approach. Therefore, the marketing and advertising industries are constantly seeking new ways to lure customers to their products and away from a competitor's product while doing so for the least possible cost. The costs associated with decorating, advertising and conveying information on each individual unit sold are variable costs. That is, the total cost of the decorating and advertising increases for each item produced. Therefore, anything that reduces total variable cost while still producing a package that will be competitive in the marketplace has a very positive impact on the bottom line and is always an advantage. A further advantage is realized when the product is offered in a completely novel way that redefines how such products may be placed in front of the consumer and captures the interest of the consumer.
One type of variable cost arises when a single product is available to consumers in a variety of options. For example, the same mascara product may be available in eight different colors or shades. Typically, these eight different S.K.U.s (stock-keeping units) are sold in the same packaging (i.e. container, closure and brush) but the packaging is labeled or decorated differently for each shade. The need to convey the shade information to the consumer in this way has certain associated costs that may not be readily apparent. In the mascara example, the shade information would have to be placed on the container or the closure. Therefore, the mascara manufacturer must maintain a stock of eight different packaging components, one labeled for each shade. At any given moment, however, it is impossible for the manufacturer to know exactly how many of each packaging component is going to be needed. Not wanting to be caught short of stock, a manufacturer will always keep an over-supply of components, estimating the numbers needed to meet demand. Those numbers depend on several factors, most notably market demand for each particular shade. But it may also depend on the availability of the raw materials required to make a product in a particular shade or it may depend on changing regulatory requirements regarding those raw material ingredients or perhaps other factors. In every manufacturing operation of this type, material waste and lost investment arise due to unused componentry. The waste and lost investment are obviously greater when more expensive components go unused. Therefore, to the extent that nearly identical packaging componentry is going to be used to market variations of the same product, it is economically advantageous if the component that distinguishes different shades or variations could be the least expensive component, thus minimizing lost investment and reducing total variable cost. At the same time, the most expensive components would contain only generic information and therefore be usable for producing units in any shade. No matter how the market demand for shades may change, the manufacturer can draw the most expensive components from a single stock, rather than eight different stocks. Fewer expensive components will sit unused in the warehouse where they generate no income and fewer expensive components will ultimately be discarded resulting in lost investment. Furthermore, by itself, the need to keep eight separate stocks in a warehouse increases the cost of manufacture, although this is not strictly a variable-type cost.
Another variable cost, lost investment due to some stock not selling, is a fact of doing business. Using the mascara example, if all units of a product do not sell, those salable units will be destroyed and the total investment in the unit will be lost. This includes, the product, the container and the closure-applicator assembly, which has contacted the product. Therefore, another advantage would be gained by a method of selling mascara wherein the closure-applicator assembly (the most expensive part) is not secured to the container prior to sale. In this way, if the product does not sell, the closure-applicator assemblies do not need to be destroyed.
Yet another variable cost is associated with assembling componentry to make the finished good. For example, as mentioned above, a typical mascara filling operation includes placing a closure or cap (which carries the brush applicator) onto the bottle and twisting the closure on the bottle to form a tight seal. This part of the operation requires expensive, sophisticated equipment and routinely results in lost investment through equipment malfunction, such as cap mis-feeds. The advantages are clear if this step in the operation could be eliminated and replaced with a simpler, less costly alternative.
There are other disadvantages in the way that mascara and some other cosmetics are marketed to the consumer. Generally, any product that is sold with an applicator, such as mascara, comes with a pre-selected applicator, a brush for example. The customer has no choice in the matter. If the customer wants the particular mascara product, she must accept the brush packaged with it. In fact, because the brush is always hidden from view, inside the container, the customer usually does not even know what brush she is buying. This is a great disadvantage to the customer because different types of eyelashes or differing personal tastes, such as brush comfort, require different types brushes. As any person skilled in the art of mascara brushes knows, a lot of research and development by cosmetic companies has gone into mascara brush design. Nevertheless, at the point of sale, the customer is not in a position to benefit from the wide variety of brushes that have been developed. The market still forces a one-size-fits-all approach, even in this highly competitive environment. This is because all efforts to offer brush choice to the consumer are not cost-effective and may require the assistance for a sales associate to complete the transaction. A great benefit to the customer and a tremendous marketing advantage to the manufacturer would be realized if a cost-effective method was available to allow the mascara customer to choose her own brush, without the aid of a sales associate.
Another per unit cost associated with mascara production is the cost of filling each bottle. That cost depends on the rate at which bottles are filled. The rate at which bottles may be filled is limited, in part, by the size of the lower orifice of the wiper. As discussed the filling tube is conventionally a little smaller than the lower orifice. If this constraint could be removed so that a larger filling tube could be used, then the rate at which filling occurs could be increased. The entire filling operation would be made more cost effective.
Conventional mascara packaging requires that all of the packaging components (container, wiper and closure-applicator assembly) be present in the plant at the time of filling the containers with mascara. From a practical planning point of view, this means that the lead time before filling depends on the longest-lead component. For conventional mascara packaging the longest-lead component is the closure-applicator assembly. Because the containers and wipers are easier and faster to manufacturer, they will generally be available well before (often several weeks before) the closure-applicator assembly. If the lead time for receiving the closure-applicator assembly could be removed from the filling schedule, then a time and cost savings may be realized in the filling operation.
All of the foregoing disadvantages may be overcome and all of the foregoing advantages may be realized in a simple, cost-effective package that features a sealed wiper. To the best of the applicant's knowledge, a wiper has never been exploited as a means of conveying information to a consumer or for advertising or other marketing advantage. Nor has the wiper ever been exploited to provide cost savings related to the manufacture, marketing, sales and lost investment. Nor has a sealed wiper according to the present invention ever been disclosed, to the best of the applicant's knowledge.